Super Sponge Cake
Super Sponge Cake is another recipe from Shenandoah Valley Cooking: Recipes and Kitchen Lore that we’re featuring as a part of our Forgotten Recipes of the Smokies series.
Here is the original recipe from the book:
Supr. Spunge Cake
Exactly as presented in Shenandoah Valley Cooking: Recipes and Kitchen Lore
1 lb sugar 1⁄2 lb flour 10 eggs rind grated and juice of 1 lemon – beat the yolks very light and mix them well with the sugar then add the whites beaten stiff. Shake the flour in very gently it should not be stirred after the flour is well mixed-if baked in 2 pans-one hour & a quarter is sufficient-if in one pan 2 hours is necessary. This done you have nothing to do but eat it.”
TESTING NOTES:
This is a sponge cake, or chiffon, but uses more eggs than we typically use today to give it the airiness it needs, so the texture comes out similar to an Angel Food. To be more authentic, we beat the egg whites by hand with a whisk, which takes about 4-5 minutes. To do so, use a large bowl and tilt it sideways and begin whisking left and right until it starts to get foamy, then vigorously whisk in a circular motion until a peak will hold. It makes a large batter, which we baked in a 10-inch tube pan, that will rise considerably beyond the top of the pan but will come back down level when done. It could also be baked in two 9-inch pans for a layered cake, which you can fill with a curd or preserved fruit. The use of lemon not only flavors the cake, but the acid is a stabilizer for the egg whites to keep the cake airy.
Modernized version below:
Super Sponge Cake
Ingredients
- 1 pound of sugar (2 cups)
- 10 eggs, separated
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- ½ pound of Old Mill White Unbleached Plain Flour (1 ½ cups)
Instructions
- Combine sugar, zest, juice, and egg yolks.
- Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into sugar mixture.
- Sift flour over sugar mixture and fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Prepare a 10-inch tube pan. Gently pour the batter evenly into the pan and bake at 325 for 70-75 minutes, or until top is a deep golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and invert pan over a cooling rack to cool. When ready to remove from the pan, gently take a knife around the pan to separate the cake from the pan. Serve as is or with fresh fruit and whipped cream.
Notes:
Tips for success:
- Preheat the oven.
- Use room-temperature eggs so the whites beat better.
- Use the conventional setting if you have a convection oven.
- Do not open the oven door while baking, as it could cause it to fall immediately.
- Let it cool in an area without a draft.